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Dear Yair,
The religious system of laws and beliefs is founded and based upon the Divine revelation to the Jewish people as the chosen people.
This basic belief forces the creation of two distinct paths for law and order -- one for Jews and the other for everyone else. Thus, too, for the laws of forbidden intercourse. (You used the proper terminology in your question, for this is a religious prohibition which stems from the belief that even adults who perform intimate acts by choice should be punished.)
Halacha determines that if one has sexual relations with a married Jewish woman, both parties are liable to the death penalty, but if one has sexual relations with a non-Jewish married woman he is not liable to the death penalty; he has only transgressed a positive commandment. Based on the story of Adam and Eve, back before the Jews were set aside as the chosen people, on the verse "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24). Chazal explained that and be joined to his wife means his own wife, not the wife of his friend, and this prohibition applies to all people (Beit Shmuel, Even HaEzer 16).
If the gentile woman is single, having sexual relations with her is forbidden by rabbinical edict and is punishable by lashes, as put into practice by Rabbi Shila, a Babylonian sage, who gave lashes to a Jew who had had sexual relations with a gentile woman (Berachot 58a).
See also Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer 16 and Tractate Sanhedrin 82a.
Sincerely,
Daat Emet
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